Customs seize WWII machine gun

A fully operational WWII machine gun with rounds of live ammunition turned up in an unprepossessing package at Vilnius airport last week.

The 20 kilogram parcel had been packaged in Lithuania and was destined for Germany.

Customs officials thought that the parcel looked rather peculiar as it past through the scanner, and further investigation proved them wholly correct.

The weapon, made under the Nazi Reich, was an MG 42 machine gun.

It is over 65 years since Nazi forces were swept out of Lithuania as the Red Army advanced across Europe.

At present, the exact provenance of the machine gun is unknown, but an investigation has been launched.

The airport was not evacuated as a result of the discovery, but staff were placed on full alert.

It is the second bizarre postage case to have come into the news in March. Over the border in Poland, experts verified that a painting sent by post to the States was a genuine work by Impressionist legend Pierre Auguste Renoir.